Changes in the character of East‐West relations: Implications for NATO's southern region

Can the EU serve as a pole in a multipolar, interdependent international system? The EU will face three particular challenges operating in such a system: the challenge of re-establishing credibility after the euro crisis; the ever-present challenge of achieving unity among the member states; and the challenge of adapting foreign policy behaviour to match the new international environment. There is a risk that the EU could slide into irrelevance.     

Financial crisis, effective policy rules and bounded rationality in a New Keynesian framework

This paper extends a standard open-economy New Keynesian model to include a third-generation “balance sheet effect” which is made operational through an endogenous risk premium impacting on investment. Using rational expectations and adaptive learning solutions, the efficiency of alternative monetary policy rules is examined during a period of financial crisis. We find that the Taylor rule is the welfare superior policy, questioning the idea of an “information encompassing” inflation-forecast based rule. Under adaptive learning we find additional policy traction and less instrument variability in rules augmented with the exchange rate. All rules, however, advocate a sharp initial interest rate response to the crisis.     

The Kyoto Protocol's 'Clean Development Mechanism': A sustainability assessment

The purpose of this article is to assess the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Drawing upon the literature on sustainable development and sustainability, the criteria for assessment consist of ecological, economic and social elements. Three key debates about the CDM are placed under investigation: proposals to clarify 'supplementarity' by capping the extent to which the CDM can be used to allow industrialised countries to meet their greenhouse gas emission limitation commitments; proposals to restrict CDM eligibility to particular kinds of projects; and proposals to introduce 'geographical quotas', to encourage CDM activity to take place throughout the developing world. Based largely upon its positive consequences for ecosystem and biophysical functions, further study of how restrictions upon CDM project eligibility could be implemented is encouraged.     

China and swapo: The role of the people's republic in Namibia's liberation and post‐independence relations

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of the People's Republic of China's relations with Namibia. Prior to liberation, China maintained cordial links with SWAPO, yet was constrained by the close ties the organisation had with Moscow and its allies. However, the absence of any alternative to SWAPO meant that China refrained from supporting any rival organisation to the Soviet‐backed movement, as it did in Zimbabwe or Angola, and the struggle for independence was largely devoid of the Sino‐Soviet dispute found elsewhere in Southern Africa liberation struggles. Upon independence, China was thus in a position where it sought to continue linkages with the SWAPO government, as part of its policy of bolstering itself internationally through the utilization of Third World support. Namibia for its part was eager for investment and economic development, and China has been seen as a useful country to do business with.